Dallas mayor rallies others to block proposed coal-fired plants

Dallas mayor rallies others to block proposed coal-fired plants

Washington (Platts)--13Jul2006

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has contacted her Texas colleagues about intervening
in the permitting of 17 coal-burning power projects in the state proposed by
seven companies.

"Last Friday, Mayor Robert Cluck of Arlington [Texas] held a meeting with a
group of Texas mayors at [the University of Texas at] Arlington," Miller wrote
in an e-mail sent to about 50 Texas mayors last week. "The purpose of the
meeting was to organize a new group called Texas Cities for Climate
Protection, with the help of a national group called ICLEI ? Local Governments
for Sustainability USA, based in California.

"One urgent issue we discussed is the current request by seven different
electric utility companies to build 17 coal-burning power plants in Texas,"
Miller wrote. "As you know, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is
currently reviewing the utility companies' permit requests to build these
plants. The environmental consequence of building coal-burning plants has
become a national issue. In Texas, according to environmental groups engaged
in the issue, the 17 additional coal plants would add 30,000 tons of nitrogen
oxides, over 115 million tons of CO2 and nearly 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury
each year."

While Miller asked her colleagues "to band together, as a group of concerned
Texas cities, to intervene on this case before the TCEQ," she also wrote,
"It's important to stress here that we are not asking the state to deny the
permits. We know that the utility companies need to provide more electricity
for people, and we know that they need to build more power plants to do that.
But there are companies outside Texas that are using more modern, cleaner
technologies than coal-burning to do it."

She claimed that "17 of 124 coal-fired plants planned in the US propose to use
gasification," but none of the Texas projects do so. "In Texas, power plants
emit more pollution than chemical and refining plants combined."

She asked her colleagues to speak out in the next 90 days when the TCEQ opens
up the permit process for a second round of public comment. "Formal
intervention means providing the TCEQ with thoughtful alternatives, expert
testimony and sworn depositions of fact. This can be done, with the help of
outside consultants who do this for a living, at an estimated cost of $300,000
to $500,000."

Her goal is to get 40 cities to act as one intervener, with each city
contributing $10,000 to cover the cost. Mayor Bill White of Houston is
spearheading the effort, Miller said.

No other efforts are in the works other than that general agreement and White
has not agreed to spearhead the effort, White spokesman Frank Michel said.

"Mayor Miller and Mayor White spoke on the phone and agreed to be supportive,"
Michel told Platts Wednesday. "Mayor White has agreed to be a participant and
is generally supportive of the effort. ? United voices are stronger than
single voices, and we've got to look at alternatives to adding coal-fired
production."

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